Staranais

Yeah, I've heard good things about it, & like most of Mike Ellis's stuff, but my goodness Leerburg is $$$! Yes, our send aways are pretty tough. My own send away isn't awesome yet though, it's a paltry 10m at the moment before things start going pear shaped. ETA, perhaps if several people are interested we can do a sneaky and split the cost?

Does anyone have this, & are prepared to lend or rent it to me? I'd love to take a look at it, but haven't quite got the funds to buy it right now. Thanks!

Oooh, could you describe how you do this? It sounds fascinating. Also sounds very useful for teaching the long (55m) send aways that we need to train for UD over here. Happy to Star, but if you can hang out a couple of days I'll video it? Might make more sense and I wanted to take some more vid of Em anyway. You could substitute the dummies for plates of food too but maintain the integrity of the drill. Ooh yes please, can't wait to see it.

Aw, that sucks about deferring. Will they let you in next year straight away? Over here they don't always, which can be heartbreaking when people have to wait multiple years to get back in to vet. Because you're a vet student you should be able to get onto VIN for free if you're not already - it's an amazing resource for anything veterinary, including hundreds of pages about coagulopathies & you can ask questions of boarded specialists for free. So, may be of some help for all the questions you probably have? Just a suggestion. www.vin.com.

oh wow! I never knew something like that existed! Do people use it on desexed dogs as well? (Im not planning on using it as no need for it - but am simply curious) Nope, not to my knowledge. What would you want to use it in a desexed dog for? It's used in horses in the states though, I believe. Well I don't know thats why I asked :p

oh wow! I never knew something like that existed! Do people use it on desexed dogs as well? (Im not planning on using it as no need for it - but am simply curious) Nope, not to my knowledge. What would you want to use it in a desexed dog for? It's used in horses in the states though, I believe.

I'm really sorry. That must have been horrible for you. Do give the uni a call, or get your vet to do so - the lab could have misplaced the sample, could have lost the results, perhaps they thought someone has called you back already, etc. Either way, you won't know unless you call them and bug them about your results. Pretty sure Haemophilia A (clotting factor 8 deficiency) is usually a sex linked recessive, meaning that if the pups are symptomatic then your bitch must be a carrier on one of her X chromosomes. When bred to a normal male dog, half of the male pups will have the disorder, half will be fine, none will carry (whereas half the female pups will be normal, and half will carry). It will be the same odds if you breed her again to any other dog. I don't know if it's a common condition in kelpies. I've never heard of it being so, but then again, we don't get many kelpies over here.

Good advice I think with every toy, bones etc. Theres always some destructive hound around that can destroy anything. My dad has got one that I gave him years ago, he used it to exersise Jude his GSD and now Harvey a GSD he provided a home for and the milk liner is still going. Dad dosnt leave it lying around, he gets it out as a game and puts it away after. My Kelpies dont seem to be very destructive so Im lucky I guess. Perhaps it also depends how well used they are when the farmer replaces them? As they're only supposed to be used for a set number of milkings (2500 by my memory), but some farmers will stretch that a bit longer to save money! So, perhaps new ones, or less used ones, would last longer. We just use them as tug toys & my mally has been through a few over the last year - they don't get chewed up so much as suddenly tear one day.

It's deslorilin, a GnRH agonist. Basically blocks sex hormone production. Like temporary castration, as it wears off in 6 months or so. I used it once, will do so again, and would recommend it. Have heard that the company was considering licensing it for bitches as well as dogs, but nothing came of it. Unfortunately it's no longer available over here for either sex.

OK ... I ask you to vacuum the house. You say no. I say 'I'll keep this $2 I was going to give you' what is your care factor? Extremely low. Because the value you see in the potential reward was low. Your dog is the same. Wow, dont get a cuddle, meh, whatever, moving on. You have a male GSD. He needs his brain challenged which boils down to more then pat or no pat. Push the boundries with him, withold things he likes if you dont want to do anything else with him and get him revved up a bit. If you cannot manage that join a dog club that can show you how. I love it when people bring me 'stubborn' or 'stupid' dogs and I have them working within a session. They're just unchallenged and nonchalant really. That is some very good advice you just got from Nekhbet.

No, one is enough. Sometimes, one is much more than enough.

Oooh, could you describe how you do this? It sounds fascinating. Also sounds very useful for teaching the long (55m) send aways that we need to train for UD over here.

Oh interesting, Rappie, I wondered if you guys were the same. I've got to say our laws are a little strange about this, and I don't fully understand the reasoning behind the law.

I think it's best to find a breeder whose dogs you really like, and then ask the breeder to pick you the best working dog for your situation in the litter, whether it's male or female. Having said that, if you want to contemplate breeding at some point, you'll need a bitch. Be aware that many breeders will be reluctant to sell you a main register female pup unless you can convince them that you have done your research about the breed and that you're going to do everything right when you breed - full health testing for your bitch, at a minimum - breeding good dogs is pretty complicated and not just a matter of finding a male you like to put over your bitch. Also be aware that if you have an entire bitch, you might not be able to work her for several weeks every a year when she's in season - not ideal if you really do want a hunting dog. There are drugs that can be used to delay or prevent seasons, but the ones currently available are not particularly safe, and I wouldn't personally touch them with a barge pole. You really do need to be prepared to lock your bitch away from all contact with male dogs when she is in season, and if you can't commit to that, should get a male dog or a desexed bitch.

It is a bit harsh, since I'd guess that only one or two percent of competitors ever win enough classes to get to the level where they achieve a title, and everyone else misses out. I certainly never have titled in Ob here, and probably never will. Ah well, it's a pity we can't merge our systems - our exercises, your scoring and titles!

Haven't seen you around in a while, Luke GSP!

They're wonderful, I use them all the time as reward toys. But, they're not indestructible, & I have heard of dogs chewing the end off & swallowing it, causing an obstruction. So be careful when giving them to dogs to play with unsupervised.

Yes and no. I love our exercises, but I really don't like the way that we must win classes outright in order to advance - that's very hard on those with less traditional breeds, & those new to trialling, as they must not only work to a certain standard, but also beat all the border collies and experienced competitors in order to advance at all! I also really hate the fact that you only get a title when you win into the top class, meaning that your work in the lower classes isn't recognised at all. I don't envy you the multiple retrieve, though.

Interesting, thanks guys. So from this very unscientific poll, there's a roughly even split between people who think their bitches don't work as well when they're in season, and those who find no difference, plus a few people who find that they work better. And 32.6% of DOLers just like to answer polls.

It did, thanks - wow, that is very different to our UDX! No tracking, for one thing. The seek back with the decoy looks fun to train, but challenging. ETA, I'll post a link that outlines our UD. UDX is a title you get if you pass a UD trial three times with over 90% of the score, not a title in itself: http://www.sigsl.org.nz/TrackingAndTrials.htm The full regulations are here, with UD exercises starting on page 52: http://www.nzkc.org.nz/rulesreg_pdfs/Obedience_Regs.pdf

Yeah, I do think that kids are more likely to run up to strange dogs now than they were a few decades back. Not sure why that is, but we never would have dreamed of running up to a strange dog when I was a kid, but I've had it happen a few times to my current dog (who is not the kind of dog that looks particularly inviting - I can only imagine what it is like for owners of cuddlier looking breeds!) Having said that, it seems that the dog owner is legally responsibility for keeping kids safe from the dog, no matter how irresponsible the child or the parents may be. It may not be fair, but it just seems to be the way things are. The dog owners didn't keep the kid safe, the kid paid for that, and if they get caught their dog will pay too.

It sounds mysterious and challenging - can any of you Aussies post a link explaining what's involved in UDX? It sounds rather different to our UDX!

I agree. There are so many things that have been suggested as risk factors, but the risk factors that we're most sure about are things that owners have no control over (short of choosing not to buy certain breeds, or certain lines).

Human intermediate acting insulin is pretty similar to Caninsulin, although like all insulin dosing can take some fiddling to get the dose & timing right. But over here at least, there are some legal issues surrounding prescribing a human medicine where there is a canine equivalent available, even if the human version is much cheaper. I don't know if Aussie is the same.

Paying $135 for someone to care for your pet for the rest of its life? That wouldn't be enough to feed my dog for a few months, let alone the rest of her life. Sounds to me that both sides are taking advantage here. The atheists are accepting money for a service they don't believe they will have to perform. But the Christians are happy to pay an unfair price for a service they believe they will use.